Dear FrettchenVolk: [G.] Ferret People: When it rains, it pours. Remember that adage? It's like saying that trouble always seems to come in pairs and it comes a runnin'. I just got off the phone with a new father. I listened to his story about what happened with one of his two male ferrets. Because of the unusual behavior of his ferret, the way its "other side" came out, he was alarmed and called his veterinarian. His vet suggested that he call Ferrets NorthWest. And so he did. This is his story. As soon as the ferret heard the first cries of his infant child cuddled in his wife's arms the ferret appeared to become highly agitated and was constantly under foot, such that the wife could walk only after she repeatedly thrust the ferret aside with her foot. The new mother was at first somewhat amused by the ferret's intense interest in her new baby, but in attempting to get away from the highly excited ferret, she walked away briskly. The ferret dogged her every step and than attempted climbing the mother's legs, apparently to get at the crying baby. At first her husband ignored her pleas to get the ferret away from her, since, in his words, he thought it was quite amusing to watch the highly animated antics of the ferret eagerly trying to get up to the baby in her mother's arms. Then something happened that changed the scene from hilarity to horror. This extremely exicted ferret (a Marshall Farms neuter, 4-years old) sunk his fangs repeatedly into the wife's ankle; it was bite, bite, and bite as the ferret savaged around the wife's ankle, biting her repeatedly. The husband retrieved the ferret and put him in his cage, handling the extremely agitated ferret with caution, so that he himself would not be bitten by the struggling ferret. It was noted then, that the second ferret, a 5-year old, was also becoming agitated and he was also put into the cage. Heretofore, the 5-year ferret had ignored the crying baby, but with all the commotion and loud talking, it too was becoming obviously agitated. Since that incident a few days ago, they have taken note of the fact that everytime the baby cries, the 4-year old ferret tries to get out of the cage. The 5-year old ferret appears to be completely oblivious to the baby's crying. The new parents are concerned what would happen if the ferret got out of its cage and got to the crying/sleeping infant without their knowledge. The mother is actively breast-feeding. I spent about a half-hour on the phone with the father and offered him my best counsel. He was aware of the Ohio ferret case. I have asked him to provide Ferrets NorthWest with a detailed, factual writeup of this incident as well as a detailed and factual life history of both his ferrets. Neither ferret has ever had meat or poultry in its diet. Both eat Totally Ferret. More on this later. Anybody got any theories? Let's read them. In the meantime folks, be alert. The world needs more lerts. NOTE: Suggest that citing ferret bite statistics and comparing to other pet bites maybe is false hope. No one can argue that there are more incidents of ferret bites (to infants) than are reported, so be careful out there. Best accept what IS and try to understand the "whys" and then work on prevention. In the meantime, see below. Verbum sat sapienti. [L.] A word to the wise is sufficient. Edward Lipinski, Frettchenvergnuegen from the Frettchenlustbarkeitsfuehrer ! Frettchenvergnuegen [G.] Joy of Ferrets. F...fuehrer [G.] Ferret frolics leader. [F]erret [E]ndowment for [R]esearch,[R]ehab, [E]ducation & [T]raining [S]ociety, NorthWest. [Posted in FML issue 2233]